The Other Backup School
by Haberdashing
Summary: Gravity Falls meets Elsewhere University; an AU where Ford was given the chance to go somewhere other than Backupsmore.


The day after the science fair fiasco, Ford arrived at home to find an acceptance letter from a university he was sure he had never applied to.

Elsewhere University, it was called. Ford liked it from the moment he read that. That was where he really wanted to be- Elsewhere. Elsewhere from this old house, from all the memories it contained, from the family members there and the family members who… weren't. The name alone promised a fresh start, and right then and there, Ford wanted nothing in the world more.

But that was only the beginning of what interested Ford regarding this university whose name he had only barely recognized. It was no West Coast Tech- there wasn't a school in the world that could compete against West Coast Tech, truth be told- but it was well-respected in a number of fields, and its programs included quite a few that appealed to him. Beyond that, though the official literature was less than forthcoming about the real reason behind Elsewhere U's many campus "traditions" and "superstitions", some digging around in old files made Ford certain that if he was going to live his dream of studying anomalies, there was no better place in the world for him to attend.

And, perhaps most importantly (certainly in his father's mind if not Ford's own), the place was offering him a full ride, no strings attached.

So, before the week was over, Ford wrote back that he would gladly accept their offer of admission, and that he would be there to attend in the fall.

Ford spent the summer poring over everything he could find about the university's Rules- not the ones written in the official handbook, but the ones that spread through whispers and rumors, the reality behind all the superstitions.

His father gifted him a necklace with a pendant made of iron the night before he left for Elsewhere. The pendant was a Star of David, worn and scratched, likely pawn shop merchandise that wouldn't sell rather than something bought specifically for him, but the gift still showed significantly more thought behind it than Ford had expected out of his father, though that didn't say much.

Ford hid the necklace underneath his clothes for two weeks and hid it in the far corner of a rarely-used dresser drawer after that.

(He did, however, make sure to keep a salt packet in the back pocket of every pair of pants he owned.)

One of the University's many "traditions" was that while attending, each student there went by a false name, a "safename", rather than the name they used in the outside world. Ford was all too happy to go by a different name for a while, to escape the baggage that came with his old one. After a bit of consideration, Ford had written down on his form that he was to be called _Gemini_ , and so it was _._

Any fears Ford had had that said name would stick out like a sore thumb amidst a sea of "normal" names was assuaged when his roommate introduced himself as Banjo, though he could have done without the godawful banjo music that so frequently came with said roommate's presence.

Ford did, however, come to find other problems with the name Gemini over the course of his first semester at Elsewhere University. People seemed to think it was just another reference to the Western zodiac, a way of answering the question "what's your sign?" But it was so much more than that, it was symbolism, it was mythology-

-it was a backstory that Ford had come to Elsewhere largely to escape, a backstory that he was loath to share with every stranger who asked about his name as a conversation starter.

After his first finals week had come and gone, Ford filled out the paperwork to change his safename to Tesla before second semester began, a name that he would keep for the rest of his time at Elsewhere U.

He would be glad to explain to others why he chose to go by Tesla, glad to tell the story of a scientist so often overlooked by the history books. And Ford knew just about all there was to know about Tesla, knew what he was getting into by choosing the name.

And Tesla's name was indeed safe for him, and not just because of the superficial safety granted by using a false name on Elsewhere University's campus. Tesla was his idol, after all. Tesla, unlike… certain people Ford could name, would never let him down.

The naming debacle was not the only time where Elsewhere University's "traditions" led to some hassle for Ford. Initially, Ford was pleasantly surprised and relieved to find that at Elsewhere U, though his six-fingered hands still garnered a fair amount of stares from those around him, it stopped at that. Nobody called him a freak here. Having six fingers on each hand did not lead to insults being thrown his way, or to having to give the same explanations about the details of his polydactyly time and time again. Nobody so much as mentioned it to him, though he could still see some uncertainty and wariness in their gazes, their eyes ever-questioning.

It was not until shortly after midterms when his Literature professor came into class sporting five eyes and three noses that Ford learned the real reason that his extra fingers were a non-issue here.

The other students weren't calling him a freak, sure, but that's because by and large they assumed that he was _literally not human_.

Ford was unsure whether he really preferred that to the alternative.

For one thing, it meant a lot of pulling out old photos that he had hoped to keep buried in order to prove that he'd had six fingers all along- no, really, look at this photo from eighth grade, it's not what you think…

Eventually, though, Ford was able to explain himself to the student body at large. Slowly but surely, word got out around campus that Tesla-formerly-Gemini was _supposed_ to have an extra finger on each hand, that that alone wasn't a sign of the worst.

Then in the spring, once the dust from that debacle had finally settled, Tesla returned from a late-night study session with a mouth that opened far too wide, eyes that glowed gold against the midnight sky, and _eight_ fingers on each hand, and the confusion began anew.


End file.
